Heavy Duty Trucking, January 2018

HDT JANUARY 2018 28 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM 4 things we learned at the Tesla Semi launch Jack Roberts Senior Editor jroberts@ truckinginfo com Regardless of what you think of Elon Musk and his new truck bear in mind that he is a visionary Jack has become known for his reporting on advanced technology such as intelligent drivetrains advanced driver assist systems autonomous vehicle technology truck platooning and alternative fuels He can be reached at jroberts@ truckinginfo com or 310 533 2521 he much anticipated unveiling of Teslas electric Semi in November was all about making a splash Actual details on the new truck were fairly sparse The company will have to clarify several points made during the launch as well as address additional issues that were skipped over In the meantime here are four things I took away from Teslas big reveal last month 1 Trucking is going to change Regardless of what you think of Elon Musk and his new truck bear in mind that he is a visionary And that is a reality that is going to impact this industry in one way or the other in the coming months and years Musk is hardly alone Others like Amazons Jeff Bezos or Pelotons Josh Switkes are fairly well known to us But there are also a lot of very talented unknown people working behind the scenes at companies such as Apple Google Intel and Walmart who are looking at trucking with fresh eyes looking to disrupt the industry with new ways of doing business using new technology to move goods more efficiently There is simply no way to predict how what or when anything is going to happen moving forward The next few years may be particularly disruptive and chaotic for fleets as they struggle to get a handle on multiple tech curves 2 Electric trucks are coming In the past year or so this industry has seen major product reveals concept vehicles and investments in electric trucks by a host of companies including Navistar Volkswagen Daimler Volvo Cummins Nikola Isuzu and Paccar as well as newer players such as Uber Embark Einride and Waymo Volkswagen for example said recently it would be investing 17 billion in electric vehicle research and that it considers Tesla one of its primary competitors in the market And according to several industry experts the Chinese are ahead of the United States and FUTURE FLEET T Teslas Semi truck is likely to be game changer for trucking in ways beyond its all electric drivetrain

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